1
as in hopeless
not capable of being cured or reformed
an irretrievable drug addict who had wasted a once-promising life
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in irreparable
not capable of being repaired, regained, or undone
this is just an irretrievable mess, so let's start all over again
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of irretrievable
Days before, Sheriff Nanos had said images were irretrievable.
—
Richard Ruelas, AZCentral.com, 1 Mar. 2026
This dreamscape of the island, like that of the jungle, illuminates in children’s literature a sense of utopia and longing about childhood as a not-quite-place, situated in an irretrievable past-yet-future, while at the same time rooted in an anti-utopian logic of adulthood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Richard Ruelas, AZCentral.com, 1 Mar. 2026
This dreamscape of the island, like that of the jungle, illuminates in children’s literature a sense of utopia and longing about childhood as a not-quite-place, situated in an irretrievable past-yet-future, while at the same time rooted in an anti-utopian logic of adulthood.
—Literary Hub, 17 Nov. 2025
Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear.
—Tim Ellis, Forbes.com, 13 July 2025
There is a genuinely irretrievable, ephemeral, low-res version of the movie.
—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for irretrievable
Recent Examples of Synonyms for irretrievable
Adjective
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That reality makes the climb for promising teams like the Magic feel almost hopeless.—
Mike Bianchi,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 May 2026
-
To Some New Island Guests With a competitive streak a mile wide, Penny (Roorbach) is charming, popular, and a hopeless romantic – for now, anyway.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded several longstanding environmental regulations, including gutting the 2009 endangerment finding and rolling back air quality standards for coal-burning power plants, which advocates say will cause irreparable harm.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
27 Apr. 2026
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The Court’s tendency to side with the White House in such cases, if only temporarily, has allowed serious constitutional harm to continue, and has, in some cases, done irreparable damage.—
Gregg Nunziata,
The Atlantic,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Patients with incurable or irreversible conditions are now also exempt from annual certification requirements.—
Dario Sabaghi,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
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According to Cotromano, the doctor overseeing her testing was not fully versed in the severity of Huntington's disease and lacked the bedside manner needed to deliver news about an incurable diagnosis.—
Jordan Greene,
PEOPLE,
13 May 2026
Adjective
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That danger has become dramatically clear in California, where officials have been grappling with an epidemic of silicosis, an irreversible lung disease.—
Nell Greenfieldboyce,
NPR,
18 May 2026
-
Separate reversible work from irreversible work.—
Oleg Malii,
Forbes.com,
18 May 2026
Adjective
-
At the same time, much of the world is facing water bankruptcy, meaning people and industries are using more fresh water than nature can replenish, leading to irrecoverable ecosystem damages.—
Abraham Nunbogu,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
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An irrecoverable loss of the entirety of our personal data.—
Shannon Bond,
NPR,
11 Mar. 2026
Adjective
-
His remains were determined to be unrecoverable in 1956 until new DNA testing led to his homecoming.—
Bri Buckley,
CBS News,
23 Apr. 2026
-
It was pronounced unrecoverable.—
Julian Lucas,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
This is why the tragedy of Gaza seems definitive and irremediable: because a state and an army that pretend to be the expression of that culture, as the heirs of that history, have betrayed the Jewish intellectual contribution to modern civilization.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Mar. 2026
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Many of the country’s top psychiatric groups warn that there is no empirical standard for determining whether a mental-health condition is irremediable.—
Elizabeth Bruenig,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Daisy’s strategy with Mike has always been to treat him like a misbehaved child, which works insofar as scolding an incorrigible child does.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
10 Mar. 2026
-
Terrible for me, an incorrigible snoop of other people’s phones, but probably a good thing for society at large.—
David Pierce,
The Verge,
28 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Irretrievable.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/irretrievable. Accessed 22 May. 2026.
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